Bunny Found a Friend

Michael surprised me last night and brought home the other bunny. He put it on the table next to the other bunny, but I didn't notice it until Laura mentioned it. What a sweetie (the bunny and the husband).

I told Amy I like them too much to take them down on Monday! She said I can keep them up all of April. I guess it's a rule or something. Good!

I am going to try to write a poem every day for the rest of the month - in celebration of National Poetry Month! Can I do it? I think I can! I was inspired by Kristy Bowen, who has been posting some of her poems that she is writing for National Poetry Writing Month, which I had never heard of until yesterday. But Kristy is brave and posts hers on her blog and I don't think I'll post mine. Reb Livingston is also posting hers on her blog .

I"ll just post a few lines of the poem I wrote today. Here's the first line:

You were a dove, an open window.

Here's the last line:

You made the trees misbehave.

Now you can make up your own poem, by filling in the rest. It's National Poetry Writing Month - you can do it!

I know my mother is coming for a visit. How do I know this? I dusted the end table in the living room. I never dust.

My big hope is that the dust-free end table will distract her from the piles of unfolded laundry and the counter in the bathroom, should either of those housekeeping issues not be remedied before her arrival.

Easter Bunny

Easter is 5 days away. I bought this bunny today. She is 18 inches tall. She is standing by the door because she is hoping I'll let her take a walk outside.

I have been reading Feign, a chapbook by Kristy Bowen, put out by New Michigan Press. Some of the poems were published in Caffeine Destiny. It's a great chapbook - and Kristy has a book coming out soon! She also has a blog and she is the founder of dancing girl press. A busy woman! I love her poems - here's one of hers from the Poetry Daily site.

I did yoga today, and planted geraniums even though it's a bit early for geraniums.

The Magazine is Over, the Blog Remains

The very last issue of Caffeine Destiny is now online.

Spring Break!

I'm on vacation!

We went to Mcminnville and saw the always adorable Carly and Tyler.

Watched the Ducks lose.

Saw Premonition with Amy and Laura. Not a very good movie.

I ran 7 miles today.

Check out Christian Hawkey's new book, Citizen Of. Wave Books is a great press.

You have to go here and try this! It's poems where you can erase words in the poem by clicking on them, and if you like them you can email them to friends and you can also look at erasure poems that others have made. I think it's cool.

I love vacation.

Top O' the Spring!

No there are no leprechauns in the art today! No little green men. I used to leave gold chocolate coins for the kids by their beds on St. Patrick's day.

But it's almost spring and the daffodils are blooming.

George Saunders came to town this week and he was inspiring and seemed like a great guy.

Max has his last basketball game today.

I am grading this week but my poetry class is over.

I am going to go run now. Far.

Term Winding Down

I can feel the end of the term approaching. I see it in my student's weary faces. But outside the earth is waking up to Spring! And we are springing forward earlier this year.

I'm still reading about Lewis and Clark.

The new Caffeine Destiny is late. I'm going to do it spring break, I think. Or maybe the week before.

Max has started Little League practice. Laura has a dance competition in a few weeks.

I haven't made any collages in a while. Maybe spring break.

Oscar Night

I want Mark Wahlberg to win but I bet he won't.

It's week eight of the term and I'm busy with classes and papers and all that good stuff.

I'm reading Undaunted Courage, about the Lewis and Clark expedition and trying to imagine my neighborhood as all frontier.

Last night on a brief evening walk with the dogs I saw something cross the street that didn't look like a cat. It disappeared quickly. Maybe a possum.

I imagine my neighborhood in the 1800's, near the Columbia river, teeming with foxes and raccoons and possums. And blackberries, lots of blackberries. In the 1950's this neighborhood was all farmland, so it's really not that much of a stretch to imagine it unhoused.

Max and Laura's teams both won their games yesterday.

Laura's hair was red but yesterday she dyed it back to light brown. So now it is light brown with some red streaks.

I have been eating too many Girl Scout cookies.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know haven't been posting much lately, as many of my adoring fans have reminded me. Well, Amy reminded me anyway!

I have been reading Dean Young's new book Embryoyo and I love it! I finished Easter Parade by Richard Yates. I've started The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif, I haven't read very far.

I had a poem accepted by New York Quarterly!" I'll be in those pages ... eventually. I think they have quite a backlog. Still, a nice yes!

Matt Yurdana came to visit my Intro to Poetry class at PSU this week. I think the students really enjoyed it. His book is called Public Gestures - an Oregon Book Awards finalist!

Last night we went to see Sparklehorse at the Wonder Ballroom. They were good. They played a short set but Michael got a signed poster. We went to a bar I've never been to before, called The Echo.

Michael gave me some very nice chocolates and pink roses and a new desk chair which I have been needing! I made creme brulee for Valentine's Day and we are going to watch LOST later. Well, truth be told, I usually fall asleep or get up and go to bed to read during LOST. I am lost when I watch LOST. Matthew Fox can only keep me engaged for so long. I don't understand what they are doing! Why are they still lost? If they have all that other stuff they keep finding on the island than why wouldn't they also find like a cell phone or something? And they are all so serious all the time. I don't think it's going to be any FUN on that island until they find Gilligan and the Skipper. Then the party will start rocking!

Happy Birthday Michael

I love you.

44

It's my birthday!

Amy sent me a very funny card, so to see the birthday singers, go here! I got a Powell's gift card which I will spend very soon!

The author tour in Eugene and North Bend was really fun. I think the audiences enjoyed it as well! I'm glad I get a chance to do that; it's good to travel other places in the state with the fine Oregon Book Awards finalists!

It's my birthday and I'm going to go write now.

Now she is 13!

Laura had her 13th birthday on Friday, and Saturday there were several girls here for a slumber party!

Thursday I leave for the Oregon Book Awards Author Tour. I'll be in Eugene and North Bend.

Lee Upton will have poems in the new Caffeine Destiny, which should go online next month!

I have been reading the Best American Essays 2006. It makes me want to write one. But I would settle for writing a-sort-of-good-not-too-bad-essay.

Today in poetry we're going to talk about Richard Hugo and the triggering town!

Laura is trying out for the basketball team this week. Practices start at 6:00 a.m. at the school. I'm glad I have coffee.

Snow Day!

And who doesn't love a snow day! Well city bus drivers, perhaps.

PSU was closed today, as well as the kids' schools. There was at least two inches of snow on the ground here. We had a fun snow day. I made cookies with my hand shaped cookie cutter and then would say "do you need a hand?" or "can I give you a hand?" before I offered one to Max or Laura or Michael. How corny of me - it's the snow, I tell you!

Cole Swensen will be in the next Caffeine Destiny and I am pleased!

So Much Depends

Two posts in one day! Who knew!

But I have completed the first collage of 2007 so I just had to post it!

And class was fun today. We talked a lot about abstract and concrete language and the differences between them. We also read William Carlos Williams Red Wheelbarrow poem.

Then I passed around this small wooden box that my mother gave me at Christmas (it had a cup inside when she gave it to me, but it was empty today). And I wrote the title "Wooden Box" on the board and the lines "So much depends" and had them write a poem about the box, in the style of "Red Wheelbarrow". They came up with some really amazing stuff! And it was fun.

5 Things

Okay, well since the Toed Hen asked, I give you the "five things you might not know about me" list, although I'm not so into this I must admit, and my first response would be, who cares! Which is not a reflection on how I feel about other people's lists, I just don't have that much to say in response, and really, if they're five at all relevant things people don't know about you, isn't there a reason they don't know? Like you don't want them to? However, here gos:

1) I can make bread from scratch without a recipe.

2 I don't like ellipsis in poems although I have really tried to broaden my viewpoint on this. Yes I'm talking about ... in a poem. I just don't get them and sometimes they irritate me.

3) I wish I had a horse that lived in my backyard.

4) I am more superstitious than I would like to be.

5) I have had very vivid dreams about the following people, so vivid that I'm not entirely convinced they didn't actually take place, on some other plane of reality:

Patrick Duffy (this was in 1977 and he was the Man from Atlantis and it was totally cool)
Jesus
Alan Ginsberg

Alrighty then!

I did it for you, Z.

Moon, Get Busy!

I"m still mining last year's collages, but I hope to make more soon!

However, winter term begins next week and I'm not ready! I'll be busy with that this weekend.

However, I think I will see Amy on Sunday.

I wrote poetry today, good for me.

I like this poem by Macgregor Card from the latest issue of Fence- ordering the moon around is a good idea! I wonder if Macgregor Card is a pen name.

Maybe I will change my name to Macgregor Denning.

But first I will think about teaching next week.

I'm listening to the Weepies.

The Year is New

But this is a collage from last January.

We had fun last night. Michael and I went to the Saphhire Hotel for drinks and dinner, and then to Jake's for more drinks. We were home long before midnight, and we didn't drink our expensive bottle of champagne that we bought earlier in the day. There will be time for that!

I am cleaning my office, but as promised, here's some forthcoming titles of poetry books that I'm looking forward to:

The Glass Age by Cole Swensen

A Thief of Strings by Donald Revell

Embryos and Idiots by Larissa Szporluk

Heaven of the Moment by John Morrison, to be published in 2007 by Bedbug Press

Okay back to the sorting and tossing and dusting! Wish me luck.

Happy New Year to all of you!

2006 Starts Saying Goodbye

Christmas was good at our house! And now, as Max said, everyone in this house has an ipod.

I'm listening to Beyonce right now. Laura and I saw Dreamgirls a few nights ago. It was fun, and Eddie Murphy played a singer that was very James Brown inspired.

Last night Max and I went to see We are Marshall. That was good too, but sad.

I can't believe the year is almost over. There are some poetry books coming out in the new year that I'm looking forward to. I'll list them in a future post - very soon. I've been reading The Book of Questions by Neruda. It's amazing.

I have kale and shallots in my refrigerator! The new Joy of Cooking I got for Christmas inspired me. My old one was falling apart.

Next week I go back to work at Literary Arts, and then winter term begins. I'm teaching online for Marylhurst and "live and in person!" at PSU.

Listening to Beyonce now, yes, but for the past few days I've been listening to a lot of Neko Case.

Today I jumped rope and bought a latte. I'm on vacation!

Little Kiddles

Soon it will be Christmas! My mom is here; we drove around and looked at Christmas lights tonight. Max thinks this is a very novel thing to do and thinks we are the only people that do this. I assured him there are others.

I will not return to work until January 2nd. The new term at Marylhurst and PSU doesn't start until the week after that. I am going to read and write and make collages and clean my office and have fun and do yoga and Tae-bo and watch All My Children and lots of movies and do whatever else I decide to do.

And then it will be 2007.

In 1967 or 1968 my sisters and I all got Kiddles for Christmas. These were little dolls. The ones we got that Christmas fit inside lockets that you could wear.

Merry Christmas!

A Week Until Christmas Eve!

Max is keeping me informed of how many days it is until Christmas, with at least daily updates - sometimes several times a day.

I'm keeping a close watch on the Mt. Hood rescue efforts, and I'm hoping for a good outcome.

I wrote some Friday and did some Christmas shopping. It started snowing on the way home from Gresham, which was exciting. Pink Floyd was playing on the radio, and it made for a very atmospheric ride home. Then Christmas music came on and that was good too!

Laura and I are going to a Craft Fair at the Doug Fir today. I made shortbread yesterday. I'm going to try to take a long walk today.

Joan Houlihan's poem on Poetry Daily is good today. The last few days of poems I've enjoyed; sometimes there can be a few weeks when I don't like any of the poems; then there's a rush of good ones. Like Kathyrn Maris's poem from a few days ago. I bought her book after I read that one.

Coffee with Zanni on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to that. There is an exhibit in the Special Collections Room at the Central Library of handprinted cards. I'm going to try to see that this week too.

What Do You Think?

Is it too dark? I kind of like it. I keep messing around with my blog layout. Must be a December thing!

I'm almost done with the Marylhurst grading.

I"m reading the restored version of Ariel. The weather seems to call for it. I like her poems with bees in them.

Christmas Christmas!

I think I shouldn't have jumped on the beta blogger bandwagon. I am having problems! And now I can't go back to my other one.

However, I will press on. We got our tree today! It looks very festive in the living room now.

I am grading Marylhurst papers today and trying to put those classes to bed.

Drinks with Scott and Taya at the Cellar and then the Vault last night. That was fun. Anytime you get to drink champagne is fun. I believe that's true!

Wednesday is the Shins! Laura had her band concert Wednesday; she played percussion. She was barefoot because her shoes were too loud.

Max had his practice chess tournament today.

I am going to stop sitting at this computer now. I should plan my 213, but I will have the whole week of Christmas off. So I should plan it before that so I can truly have the week off! Well we'll see about that.

Oh look at this new Dean Young poem on American Poetry Review that begins:

Poetry is an art of beginnings and ends. You want middles, read novels.

Oregon

Wow what an evening the Book Awards were! I think there were nearly 500 people there. I was very proud to be an Oregonian.

I was pretty happy with the way my Powerpoint came out - and Michael's brillaint font change! Michael also served as the best Powerpoint operator ever.

I could be more articulate, but I'm kind of spent.

I'm taking the dogs out for a walk. It's very cold but it will be good. I have been grading Marylhurst papers today and I need some fresh air!

I decided on textbooks for 213, so the write-in campaign can stop. Ha! I heard from Zanni and that was IT! I have a new scheme to help solve the paper chase in 213 - maybe. We'll see. I love the cyclical nature of the school year.

I have tomorrow off. I'm going to try to write and maybe put up some Christmas decorations.

Today I was pushing my cart around Fred Meyer thinking why do they have all this stuff that everyone's supposed to buy this is so commercial why do they make everyone run around like crazy what an insane holiday.

Then I get to Starbuck's and see Starbuck's Christmas Blend and think, oh good it's time for the Starbuck's Christmas Blend - I must have it! And shortly after I see a Snoopy Christmas ornament at the Hallmark store and think oh I must buy that, I LOVE this time of year!

This is my conflicted relationship with Christmas.

Deck the halls!

Harvard Review

The Harvard Review returned my poems yesterday. I'm just not Ivy League material, I guess. But I did receive a nifty blank Harvard Review postcard and if you're lucky I just may send it to you!

Tomorrow is the Book Awards. Yes indeed.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I went shopping with my sisters last night. Bring on the lemondrops! I bought sparkly eye shadow at Macy's and smelled a bunch of perfume at Nordstrom's.

Thanksgiving was fun. I watched White Christmas at Amy's.

I made my own turkey today! So we can have leftovers.

Five days until the Book Awards - the countdown has begun.

The Ducks lost the Civil War game.

It is very cold but not cold enough to snow down here in the "lower elevations" as they refer to us. Max and Laura are still hoping for snow but I think it's doubtful.

I have been grading Marylhurst papers all day and I'm going to take the dogs for a walk now.

I'm Still Here!

Well someone hasn't blogged in a while. I'm getting ready for the book awards!

The second Japanese Garden reading was fun. Marc Acito was great.

I walked three miles today with the dogs and they were so happy.

Has anyone out there read Helen Vendler's Poems, Poets, Poetry and/or used it in a class? I need a textbook for my poetry class next term and I am always searching for a good one. Haven't been satisfied yet with anything I've used.

This is all for now but I'm thinking of each and every one of you.

Or something.

Pilot Poetry Is In The House!

I'd like to extend a warm cyberspace welcome to Pilot Poetry and their new online magazine. Dean Gorman and Betsy Wheeler have got it going on!

It's my day off. My house is a mess but I wanted to make a collage and post here before trying to create a little order in the house. What girl wouldn't?

Last night's readings in the Japanese Garden were fabulous. The garden looks really beautiful at night, and the Japanese Pavillon was lit by candelight and really cool. George Aguilar, Sr., Brian Doyle and Kristin Kaye read. Chelsea Cain was our host. It was really great and next Wednesday it all happens again! Marc Acito will host a fiction reading with Laila Lalami, Scott Nadelson and Justin Tussing. Don't miss this!

I get to see Tori this weekend, hooray! Michael and I are taking the kids to the Dixie Chicks tonight!

And the Democrats are back in action! We'll see what they make of things.

Okay, I must vacuum. Wish me luck!

Bipartisan Cafe

Daneen and I met this morning at the Bipartisan Cafe - a fitting meeting location for this election week! - to talk about our poems. The second time we've done this. We're set to meet again December 10th. I'm glad we're doing this. It's an extra incentive to get poems finished!

Stephen King was fun; tonight we are going to hear Frank Rich. Again I feel compelled to tell you, there will be readings by some Oregon Book Awards finalists in November in the Japanese Garden. The first one is this Wednesday, hosted by Chelsea Cain, with readings by George Aguilar, Brian Doyle and Kristin Kaye. If you live in Portland, come to this lovely reading - in the candlelit Japanese Garden pavillon - this Wednesday at 6:30, and be sure to introduce yourself to me!

It's been raining hard all weekend but I must venture out into it today with the dogs; they want their walks! Laura has been volunteering at the Humane Society and some of those dogs stay for months. She walks them and takes photos of them to show us at home.

Marvin Bell has a new poem in the Fall issue of Caffeine Destiny. I didn't want to wait until the next issue to add it.

Halloween

We carved our pumpkins this weekend. Well the kids carved them! I took them to Rossi's Haunted House last night. It's suddenly colder outside. Laura's costume has black feathered wings. Max has a very scary mask.

I didn't go see Richard Ford. I didn't go hear anybody! But I'm reading Ford's new book and I'm liking it.

Football season is over, and Laura has one more soccer game.

I'm working on a poem but it's slow. I will be on the radio tonight, briefly, talking about the Oregon Book Awards. And then listening to the finalists read from their books, which I'm really looking forward to!

There will be readings by some Oregon Book Awards finalists in November in the Japanese Garden. These are going to be great; Chelsea Cain and Marc Acito will host. I think it's great people will have a chance to hear some of the finalists read before the Book Awards on December 1st. Tickets for the Book Awards are available at the Literary Arts web site.

There! My blog world and my work world have just collided!

Now back to me - I watched some of the Omen on Saturday night, and a lot of Boris Karloff in Frankenstein on Sunday morning. So I'm in the spirit!

Richard Ford

Well I've thought more about it, and I'm going to go see Richard Ford, I decided. Yes. I didn't know he was going to write a sequel to Independence Day, which was a sequel to the Sportswriter. I think he would be good to see again.

I got an email from Janine, hooray.

We played poker tonight, the kids and Michael and I. Michael won.

I"m going to try to go running BEFORE work this week. Wish me luck. And get some poems written so that Daneen and I will have poems to talk about next weekend.

I want to see the new movie, THE QUEEN. And Laura and I want to see FLICKA.

Max has his costume. He's not Elvis, he's scary mask person with a black robe. I will take pictures.

SUNDAY

Nine days until Halloween! I'm taking Max to find a costume today. He wants to be Elvis this year.

Tuesday I think Daneen and I are going to see Barbara Ras read at PSU. But the Poetry Bus is in town, and Richard Ford is reading at Powell's. I like Richard Ford, and I'm looking forward to reading his new novel. I did see him read once many years ago, with Tobias Wolff. But I think I will probably go see Barbara Ras. Although I'd like to hear Joshua Beckman and Christian Hawkey. It's a tough call.

I am grading Marylhurst papers this weekend. I still have those bulbs to plant.

The Decemberists

We went to see the Decemberists last night. It was fun but I wanted to hear more songs off their new album, and more of my favorites, like Oceanside, or July July or Red Right Ankle. But they didn't play any of those songs. We still had fun though.

I haven't been doing much stamping or collage-making lately, although I have been getting caught up with the kids' scrapbooks. Last November I was writing sonnets on demand. One of them grew up to be a poem that was accepted for publication. Maybe I should think of something like that again. I was trying to start a sonnet crown. With a twelve line sonnet.

I have tulip, daffodil and crocus bulbs in my garage that I need to plant.

Fun Phone Times

Well I was going to call my mom to thank her for being a conference call phone participant today, but I believe it's too late now.

I was practicing making a conference call today at work. I called my mother, and my sister Amy and my brother-in-law Scott. Fun times! We laughed and sang. Well, Scott sang. I wonder if the real one will be as mirthful. I'm not sure.

Well it's my Friday! Max has two games this weekend and Laura is in the Grand Canyon.

Daneen and I saw Laurel Snyder read last night. She was good and Henry Carlile was there so that was cool. I always still expect to see Nico at PSU readings. I have come to accept that I won't see Zanni or Janine anymore when I go to a PSU reading, but somehow I still expect to see Nico, walking in late, or standing in the back, or just being there. Ah well! In spirit, etc.

Nico has new poems on Shampoo.

Calvin Trillin was fun.

Colin Powell

Max is going to meet Colin Powell on Monday! He's excited. He's going with a group of students from his class.

Max has been writing a play. I've been typing up his scenes for him as he finishes them.

Laura leaves for the Grand Canyon next week, and her first plane ride!

I had a good Friday off. It's nearly 4:30 and I have yet to brush my hair! Wrote some poetry, swept my kitchen floor. That's a good day at home for me!

I"m going to read some Calvin Trillin this weekend. We're going to McMinnville to watch the Duck game tomorrow.

We need a new furnace and a new air conditioner, but I"m trying not to get too excited about it. We're getting quotes.

Here's a quote from Calvin Trillin: “The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.”

New Issue Online

Dan Beachy-Quick • Kristy Bowen • Christian Hawkey • Shane McCrae • Simone Muench • Karen Neuberg • Camille Norton • Donald Revell • Emily Rosko • Larissa Szporluk • Joshua Marie Wilkinson •

Essay: Mozart and the Music of Intrigue
by C.S. Stone

We Asked Him, He Answered: Steve Almond

Check it out

Friday

Well it's been a busy and weird week, but it's Friday.

The Oregon Book Awards finalists will be announced Monday.

I started Pastoralia by George Saunders the other night and I've been enjoying it.

Tomorrow Laura has a soccer game in Sandy. I think Max and Michael might go to the PSU football game tomorrow night. It's the last weekend of September - hard to believe.

Here's a Stafford poem for all of us tonight:

For My Young Friends Who Are Afraid

There is a country to cross you will
find in the corner of your eye, in
the quick slip of your foot—air far
down, a snap that might have caught.
And maybe for you, for me, a high, passing
voice that finds its way by being
afraid. That country is there, for us,
carried as it is crossed. What you fear
will not go away: it will take you into
yourself and bless you and keep you.
That's the world, and we all live there.

—William Stafford

Football

Last night we had a little adventure and drove out to Estacada, which we had never driven to before. Michael, Laura, Max and I watched the Estacada football team get stomped on by the Gladstone Gladiators. One of Laura's counselors from Outdoor School is a cheerleader, and Laura wanted to see her cheer. High school football is fun to watch, especially on a crisp fall night. Finding our way back to Portland in the dark was a little confusing, but we made it! I was thinking it would be fun to drive to a different small Oregon town every Friday night to watch football. Or maybe just once a year, pick a different Oregon town. Or maybe just go once to Estacada and then not go anywhere else, but remember how much fun high school football games were when you were in high school, and how they still are fun to watch. And then go to the high school that is actually in your neighborhood, three blocks away, and watch games there.

Max has a football game today, and Laura has a soccer game starting in 40 minutes. Which means I'd better get moving!

Michele mentioned yesterday that Marianne Boruch is coming to PSU for a reading, and maybe even a craft lecture. So last night I ordered In the Blue Pharmacy: Essays on Poetry and Other Transformations by Boruch.

Sunday Daneen and I are getting together to talk about poems. Yes.

It's Official

I'm old.

How do I know this, you ask? Well. I was in a store today and I saw the latest issue of Grand, a magazine about being a grandparent. Donny Osmond was on the cover, with his new grandson.

Donny Osmond is a grandparent!

He was a teen idol when I was Laura's age. I used to buy Tiger Beat so I could get pictures of him. Holly and I used to watch the Donny and Marie show on Saturdays.

And now he's a grandparent.

It's official.

Wicked

We saw WICKED last night at the Keller auditorium. It was great, and we all enjoyed it! It's interesting to take a story that everyone knows and then imagine some other stuff about it (okay so that's not super insightful critical commentary, but it's Monday!) The sets and costumes were really amazing and very green. I like how they made up words. Dancing Through Life!

I saw Daneen and Zanni today (hey look, Zanni, I blogged about it first! But you can give the fashion report). It was great to see them and I hope Zanni returns to the Pacific NW soon. Yes! I think Zanni would make a good Professional Urban Cowgirl. We'd call her P.U.C for short! Then we'd just start calling her Pucky, and about ten years from now we'd forget why, but it wouldn't matter because she would always be our Pucky.

Max's team lost their first football game, but it was close.

Ploughshares has a blog, I discovered today.

Today is September 11.

We Recall 7th Grade

Anyone remember seventh grade? Did you like it? I can't remember if I liked seventh grade. I do remember when our Social Studies teacher read us all of Longfellow's Evangeline, and warned us he might cry at the end and then he kind of did cry.

Thanks to Josh Corey's blog, I found this - she talks to poets about what it was like to have their first book out. The Andrea Baker one was interesting. And Tony Tost didn't know what his book cover would look like until he saw it on Amazon!

Nico emailed me about the poetry bus. It's coming to Portland!

It is too hot I wish it were cooler.

Laura started seventh grade today. Our thoughts are with her.

Michael and I watched Elizabeth last night, the Helen Mirren one. I wonder if they would mind at my new job if I began to speak in the royal we all the time. Or at home; what would my family think?

We believe they would think we were freakin' weird.

September

Max starts fifth grade today! Laura begins seventh grade tomorrow.

Very sad about Steve Irwin. Laura and Max used to watch Crocodile Hunter all the time.

Last night I couldn't sleep so I started Veronica by Mary Gaitskill. I haven't read her in a while; I'm liking this book. I also read the new Poetry, which had an interesting article by John Barr on the state of poetry in America.

The only first day of school outfit I can remember very well is a dress I wore in Palo Alto - I think it was sixth grade? And the knee socks that went with it.

Summer went fast.

Camping! (Part Two)

Camping at Timothy Lake was fun! Here is the lake!

It's late, and I want to do something besides sit in front of a computer screen. So this is brief, but the lake looks pretty, doesn't it? I had fast food for lunch AND dinner. That kind of a day!

But it was decidedly cooler today, and I loved that.

Okay Zanni, continued ... Book that changed my life? Collected poems of Jorie Graham, Portrait of A Lady (though I'm not sure how), Sometimes a Great Notion, Ashbery's Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror.

Book that made me laugh? Marc Acito's How I Paid for College. Yes indeed.

More soon.

Camping!

We are leaving for our family camping trip to Timothy Lake tomorrow! We are sort of packed! I can't wait.

Max is on two football teams; the 4th and 5th grade team and the 5th and 6th grade team. He will be playing twice a week, and he is excited. He looks so cute in his football helmet and uniform.

I nominated Janine Oshiro, Laton Carter, and Cecelia Hagen for Best of the Net for their poems in the Spring 2006 Caffeine Destiny.

Laura gets home tonight from a visit to Sisters.

Zanni - on a desert island I think I would want Portrait of a Lady and Gerald Stern and William Stafford and Jorie Graham and Sometimes a Great Notion and YOGA journal, since I'd have lots of time to do Yoga. Am I allowed to say more than one? If I had to pick just one I'd choose some huge anthology. I will respond to the other ones soon.

Ricky Bobby

Talladega Nights was funny, sort of. It was funny in many places, and then just kind of slow in other parts. But it was fun to go to a movie with Max, and Saturday morning we kept mentioning lines from the movie and that was fun as well. Shake and Bake! Help Me Tom Cruise!

I was listening to Podcasts today - because looking for interesting podcasts is more amusing than grading papers (and - see above paragraph - I'm all about the fun!) I didn't know Nora Ephron's parents wrote the Desk Set. I learned that from the New York Times Book Review podcast. There is The Billy Collins Animated Poetry Series, with poems read by him with a video to go along with it. I watched "Forgetfullness", which was cool. I found these on I-tunes.

Tonight we are going to make sushi and watch Cache.

Laura left for Sisters today, with her two cousins. The house will be quieter this week.

I found out last night a poem of mine will be in the second print anthology of the Notell Motel people, The Bedside Guide to Notell Motel, due out in January 2007. The link takes you to info about their first one. My poem doesn't mention sex, or motels. No one even kisses in it! I guess that wasn't a requirement, though, and for that I'm most appreciative.

Donuts

Today there were donuts in the kitchen at work. I know I know - thrilling subject, right? But there's just something so sweet about half of a donut on a plate of donuts. You can just imagine the internal struggle the person went through - I want a donut no I shouldn't have a donut. Okay half. I'll have half. Of course, it's possible the people who cut the donuts in half (by the end of the day there were quite a few of them) have no donut issues at all, and just weren't hungry enough for a whole one, but I doubt it.

I had one. And a little more than a half of another one.

Max is reading Pride and Prejudice. I thought he might not quite get it, but I asked him about it and he seems to be understanding the plot. Mr. Darcy is arrogant, he told me. I read a little of it with him last night.

But just so he doesn't become too high-brow, I'm taking him to see Will Farrell's new movie tomorrow night.

Last night Michael and I watched The Squid and the Whale, with Jeff Daniels. It was good and really sad. It reminded me a bit of The Ice Storm, although it was set in a later time. But there was something about the tone of both movies that seemed similar.

I have many papers to grade, but I'm going to pace myself.

Now He is Ten

Max had a good birthday! His presents included a guitar tuner and tickets to the Who in October - he and Michael are going. His birthday party was Friday and four of his friends spent the night. I think they went to bed by 3:00 a.m.; I know they were up by 7:00.

Christian Hawkey sent me poems for the new Caffeine Destiny, and I'm looking forward to having the new issue online!

Laura bought fake fingernails yesterday at Claire's. She told me it's hard to type with them.

I start my new job tomorrow. I have been trying to organize my office and my closets these past few days.

Last night I started reading "I'll Take You There", a novel by Joyce Carol Oates.

The light has shifted some, and it seems like fall is on its way. But not quite yet!

My sunflowers have all bloomed and are now falling over. I am thinking of trying to dry some of my tomatos - in the oven. Or maybe I'll just freeze them.

Seattle!

Okay, this is not the perfect Seattle collage, but it's a start ...

Seattle was fun! We went to the Seattle Zoo, and Volunteer Park, and to the Space Needle! We all went to the top of the Space Needle. It was a clear day and the view was fabulous. I have always had a very distinct memory of being four or five and having an Orange Julius at the top of the Space Needle with my mom.

Except, as it turns out, that never happened. I don't know where the memory came from .

While in Seattle I also went to Open Books, a bookstore devoted exclusively to poetry. I bought Joshua Beckman's new book, a book by Matthew Zapruder, and a book by Barbara Guest.

Max turns 10 on Friday. He is excited and that is an understatement.

Rice-a-Roni

The summer is going by fast now. I have been reading Marc Acito's How I Paid for College and enjoying it. I was a bit of a "theater person" in high school myself, so as they say, I can relate to it.

I talked to my mom on the phone today, and told her about my new job. Those of you who know me, know what it is. If you don't know, email me and I'll tell you!

Max has guitar lessons today and Laura is at the middle school painting a mural with her Girl Scout troop. She was great at the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls Showcase at the Baghdad Theater last Saturday. My daughter the rock star!

I need to weed in sections of the back yard. The sections where my flowers live. However, I have managed to avoid that for the past two days by making jam, taking advantage of Albertson's killer "going out of business sale" (I now have enough boxes of Rice-a-Roni and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese to make it through at least a few weeks of a terrorist attack or other unforeseen "can't leave the house to buy food" event), and grading papers. And sort of folding laundry. But just sort of.

The Beach!

Yes, as promised, it's the "I went to the beach this weekend!" blog entry. Because ... I did! Stayed at Amy and Scott's new house in Neskowin. It was lots of fun and I saw sea anemones. The weather was great.

This coming Saturday we are going to Seattle. We're going to the Space Needle and the Zoo, and Open Books. Our hotel has a pool, so I hope it's nice weather.

I haven't been writing much poetry - I never get much writing done in the summer. But Daneen and I are going to start meeting regulary to talk about poems, starting next week. That should be good incentive!

This summer has gone by fast, but it's still summer! It's only August. A new Caffeine Destiny should be up by the end of this month - that's the plan!

I have been reading short stories by William Trevor - and Rolling Stone Magazine!

Run Off

Amy and I ran the Cascade Run-off yesterday - 9.3 miles. I finished, and I didn't walk any of it, so I'm pleased. I was, however, last in my age group and finished before 10 other people. But 9.3 miles is pretty far. I'd like to run a half-marathon next. But not a marathon!

Laura started her Rock and Roll Camp for Girls this morning. Max has a new crew cut, thanks to Michael. It looks good!

This weekend we are going to the beach for the Moore Cup, and next weekend we are going to Seattle!

The term at Washington State is almost over, and I have a few papers to grade.

My sunflowers are blooming. They are already showing back to school ads, but I'm ignoring them. August is still summer, and it's not even August yet!

Zanni is on her way to Squaw Valley, and Janine is driving back to Iowa. I'm here - and it's hot out!

Martina!

Laura and I went to see Martina Mcbride in concert last night. It was a great concert!

Michael, Laura, Max and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday. I enjoyed it. I can't remember enough about the first one to compare the two of them.

Yesterday we also went out to breakfast - we woke up and the power was out!

I read Steve Almond's latest short story collection this weekend, The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories. My favorite story was about a boy who hits a kid with a baseball bat - which sounds awful, and it is, but the story was told well. I read My Life in Heavy Metal a few years ago. I know he's written a novel with Julianna Baggott, where they take turns writing letters back and forth - as characters in the novel.

Tomorrow Laura starts a week of Girl Scout camp - it's a day camp, and she's a program assistant this year. Friday night the P.A.s get to spend the night.

I have many green tomatos on the vine!

Prairie Home Companion

Laura and I went to see Prairie Home Companion tonight. It was $4.00 Monday at Cinetopia on Hawthorne. I liked it a lot; I was worried Laura might think it was kind of boring, but she said it was "pretty good." Meryl Streep seemed quite different than her role in Devil Wears Prada. There was a lot of good music in it, and Lily Tomlin and Garrison Keillor. I used to listen to Prairie Home Companion all the time when I lived in Eugene.

Tomorrow we are driving to Mill City to pick up Max and his cousin Alex and bring them back to Portland. It will be fun to see Max again.

Tonight I read Jonathan Franzen's essay on the novel that was published in Harper's in 1996 and everyone talked about. I finally read it! I liked the quote from Don DeLillo that he included in it: "writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us."

Our Far-Flung Correspondents

Today, Tori is in India, Max is in Central Oregon and Holly is in New York City.

Today is my mom's birthday. We went out to Shari's for breakfast this morning - Laura, Elise, Mom and I.

Last night we went to see The Devil Wears Prada. I enjoyed it; Meryl Streep was great. Turns out Michele G. and John were sitting right behind us!

Today we are going to McMinnville to celebrate Mom's birthday. Amy has a temporary houseguest, in the form of a calico kitten.

Happy Birthday Diane.

Superman

Michael and I took the kids - Laura very much against her will! - to Superman yesterday. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I think Anthony Lane was right, however - the actor who plays Superman seems like he's doing an imitation of Christopher Reeve playing Superman.

Friday night I went out with Janine, Daneen and Zanni. Janine's in town for most of July - hooray! I thought it was funny we all showed up with black shirts on. We went to Mint, a place in North Portland. I wish Janine and Zanni still lived here, but I think perhaps Zanni might move back - at least to Oregon? - after she graduates. Can't stop thinking about Janine's red shoes - and gold hoop earrings. Maybe I'll write a poem where they make a guest appearance ...

Sending a poetry manuscript to Tupelo Press tomorrow. Daneen lit the fire under me!